


Stray: The Raven Chaser

by Stray316



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Catlad, F/M, Female Antagonist, Multi, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Sexual Content, Tim Drake is Catlad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-07
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-29 12:06:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3895687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stray316/pseuds/Stray316
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim Drake was never a Robin, but a Stray. Being adopted by Selina at the tender age of 5, he never thought he'd be anything other than what he wanted to be, but when trouble brews and Gotham needs all the help it can get from its costumed lot, he may find himself making strange choices and working with unlikely allies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Something Unusual

**Author's Note:**

> AU story based somewhat off of other fanfics, comic storylines, and the Arkham series.

Tim sighed while he stretched his arms and legs out before pulling on his cap and pulling the zipper on his catsuit up to his chest. "Another night in this crazy town," he muttered to himself before grabbing his goggles from the hanger pulling them on, letting the lenses rest on his forehead before he walked out onto his balcony and pressed the comm link in his right ear. "You read me Gwen?" He asked as he double-checked his equipment before heading out.

"Loud and clear… Kitten," she replied with a short burst of laughter.

Tim let out a frustrated sigh before speaking again. "Only Selina may call me that," he informed before flipping off the railing and tucking his legs up a bit to land on the rooftop a few stories below him and rolling to a stop.

"Fair enough Tim. I guess you're trying to establish yourself as an adult now?" Gwen asked as she monitored his vitals through the suit.

"Of course," he began as he began his patrol, letting the wind and his gut feeling dictate his direction of travel. "Which reminds me, what're you doing this weekend?"

Gwen let out a short chuckle while she typed a message to Selina on her phone. "Selina and I were planning on having a girls' weekend. You interested?"

Tim shuddered a bit as he came to a halt at the edge of a roof and shook his head before looking around. "You know what, I... Hang on," he said as his voice became stern and a bit harsher. "I think I'm witnessing a 211," he informed as he leaned forward a bit to watch some crooks at the corner of a back alley.

"Some of us don't speak police code," Gwen informed with a soft sigh as she rubbed her temple. "I know you can take care of yourself, but this is more of a bat problem. Shouldn't you leave this to them?"

"I'm sure one or more of them will show up when the time is right. Besides, I don't think this can wait," he stated as he made his way onto a roof overlooking a maze of back alleys, only to find... A drug deal. 'Typical,' he thought to himself. He paused for a moment and looked again as his heart dropped a bit. He could already tell that at least two of those "criminals" were school kids. Shaking his head a bit, he dropped down and proceeded to quickly dispatch them. The first one tried to get him with a knife, but Stray ducked a little, grabbed his wrist, and twisted it, smirking a bit when the man cried out in pain before he brought his back foot around for a spinning kick to his jaw and knocking him out. The next attacker was a bit clumsy with his punch, allowing Tim to grab his arm, quickly put him in a hammer lock and push himself back, smashing the man's head into the wall before letting the man collapse at his feet. After easily dispatching the remaining two, he spotted a bag on the ground, picked it up and eyed the contents with a frown before grabbing the dealer by the collar of his short and forcing him against the wall. "Where'd you get this!? I want an answer," he told the man through grit teeth.

Several minutes of bad jokes directed towards his suit and his sexual orientation forced Tim to knock the man unconscious with a forearm shot before letting out a sigh. "Things would probably easier if I was working with the Bat," he muttered to himself before tucking some of the drugs into a pouch in his utility belt before dragging the losers out for the police to find before continuing on his route. Tim shook his head a bit as he scaled to the roof with the use of his own cat-grapple before continuing. After a moment of thinking, he stopped in his tracks and wondered where Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl or Robin was. This was up there alley, but so far there was nothing. 'Sure Nightwing bounces back and forth between Gotham and Blüdhaven, but the others are usually active for hours…" he mused to himself.

Deciding to call his crime fighting night over, he ran and leapt over several rooftops before his penthouse came into view. 'I really need my own Catmobile… Or at least a Catcycle,' he thought as he pulled out his grapple gun and fired it at the railing on the balcony. He reached out with his free hand and hoped over the railing before disconnecting the line and walking into his home. As he walked over to his small mainframe, he tossed his grapple gun and his cap onto the nearby table before plopping down onto the seat. Nothing fancy here, just a large screen in the center of eight smaller screens circled around it with a large modem connecting Tim to every available news source and even some private networks around the world. He tapped the power button on the modem before activating a Bluetooth earpiece and calling his fence.

"Hey Gwen, you got a moment?" He asked as his screen flashed to life before he started digging for information regarding Gotham's recent criminal activities.

"What've you got for me?" She asked as she prepared to obtain a price for his obtained good.

"This isn't what you think Gwen. I busted up the drug deal and found one of the kids carrying some kind of drug that's unlike anything I've seen before," he told her. "Too white to be anything common, and the green bits aren't marijuana leaves," he finished as he stared at the contents in the bag for another moment. His time on the streets had taught him a few things and he most assuredly knew what was what, even though he kept his hands clean of such things. "If I send you a sample, can you try and uncover some of the chemicals in its makeup for me?" He asked while preparing himself for any arguments from her.

He heard what he thought was a sigh from Gwen's end and knew that she wasn't totally on board with his whole crime-fighting thing. "Tim… I know you and Selina occasionally fight for the little people, but I'm a bit worried that you might've thrown yourself into something a bit more dangerous than a simple mugging. What if you get seriously hurt out there, or worse… What if you die Tim? What am I supposed to tell Selina?" Gwen asked in a remarkably calm fashion even though Tim could hear and feel the underlying tone in her voice. She had a point. He wouldn't deny that, but than again, cats were supposed to have nine lives... And he wasn't planning on fighting any crazies like the Joker or Scarecrow, so he wasn't too concerned.

"I won't die Gwen. I'm just going to gather up a few more bits of information, then pass it along to the Bat-clan," he informed her as he leaned back in his chair a bit before sending her a scan of the contents.

"… Fair enough," she replied as she got to work. "It'll be an hour or two before the results are in," she informed as she immediately got started on breaking the contents down, "So try to keep yourself occupied while you wait."

"Will do," he told her as he stared out the window to his side with an uneasy feeling. He didn't tell her since he didn't want to worry her so much, but those drug dealers were wearing a Phoenix emblem. He hadn't seen it before, but the fact that they had one seemed to indicate a deeper mystery and a sense of dread, one he that he was sure would plague Gotham a lot more in the days to come.

'Well, nothing in this city is ever really easy to deal with. Why change that up now?' he mused to himself as he stared out of the window by his computer station.

Stray's origins next ;)


	2. Origins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Selina discovers a stray during a night out and keeps up her tradition of being a mother to them.

Tim made a quiet noise from the back of his throat as he rested his elbows on the desk while placing his forehead into the palms of his hands. It had been thirty-two minutes since Gwen had last informed him of her progress. Not that he was having a doubt in her skills, but he was wondering if anyone other than Batman could decipher anything about this. He was shaken from his thoughts when his comm. link went off.

 

“Yeah?” He asked hurriedly assuming that she had something for him.

“Sorry Tim. Still waiting on the results from the analysis,” she informed with a short chuckle.

“Fair enough. So what’s up?” He asked as he sat up in his chair.

“I was wondering, how did you and Selina meet up? I don’t recall her mentioning that she had adopted a fairly wealthy kid off the streets,” Gwen said.

Tim leaned back in his seat and sighed a bit before shaking his head a bit.

“Of all the times you could have asked, why now?”

“Curiosity,” she replied with a short burst of laughter.

“Fair enough,” he uttered as he continued to stare out into the abyss that was Gotham before beginning his tale.

_Flashback:_

An alley in the dark streets of Gotham sat mainly empty except for one thing, a small figure that was trotting around seemingly searching for something. Upon closer inspection, the figure turned out to be a boy of about four or five with a grungy white t-shirt, sneakers, a dirty sweater, and some worn jeans. His black hair was a disheveled mess and his face was covered partly in dirt and dust, but that didn’t bother him as he continued to search for food.

  **“Wait, you mean you were a rich heir, but you were roaming around on the streets?” Gwen asked in surprise, unintentionally interrupting his story.**

**“What do you expect? I was just a kid and I didn’t know any better,” he replied with a neutral tone.**

**“Right. Sorry. Please continue,” she said as she quickly checked over the information of the on-going analysis.**

The five year-old Tim continued to search through and behind dumpsters for any money, food, or clothing items before making his way to the abandoned apartment he had found a few weeks ago. At the same time, a crime was taking place about a block down the street at the Merchant’s Bank. Catwoman leapt out through the hole she had made in one of the overhead windows before she took off running back towards her apartment, but as she did a flip across the gap between two buildings, the pouch containing her spoils somehow fell and disappeared into the alley below. After landing on the rooftop, she dashed over to the edge and peered into the alley below while slightly gritting her teeth for a moment.

“Dammit,” muttered under her breath before hopping over the ledge.

After landing in a crouched position, Catwoman began to scan the general area for any sign of her ill-gotten goods before turning around when she felt a presence behind her. She got into a defensive stance with the claws in her gloves out fully expecting it to be a drunken man, another criminal, a police officer, or even the Batman, but she was taken by surprise when the presence belonged to a small boy with innocent and lovely blue eyes. Selina retracted the claws on her gloves and stared at the boy before her eyes widened a bit when he held up her pouch.

“All here… Promise,” he squeaked out as he shook the bag just a little bit so that the rattle of the content inside could be heard.

**“Wait wait wait, you mean to tell me that you two had one of those chance encounters that some people describe as an intervention from Jesus or something?” Gwen asked as she was getting more into the story.**

**“You can say that. Selina and I wouldn’t,” Tim responded with a slight chuckle.**

**“Did you find out what it was she had _appropriated_ from the bank?” Gwen asked with some curiosity. **

**“Is your analysis of the contents of the bag done yet?” Tim asked having grown slightly tired of the interruptions.**

**“No. Why?”**

**“If you want me to finish this before that’s done, I will need the comm. link to myself,” he informed.**

**“Alright alright… You aren’t accidentally forgetting about how your water broke or something are you?” She asked before letting out a short burst of laughter.**

**“Gwen… I kinda really hate you right now,” he muttered before getting back to his story.**

Catwoman shifted her eyes from the bag back to the boy for a moment before she really took in his features and his appearance before slowly crouching down to come as close to eye level as possible.

“I believe you sweetie… I-I’m Selina,” she informed as she introduced herself with a small smile.

“What’s your name?” She asked as she pointed at him.

“Timothy Drake,” the boy replied with large eyes filled with curiosity and wonder.

Selina nodded her head a bit as she kept her eyes locked on his.

“It’s nice to meet you, but where are your parents?” She asked with genuine concern.

She was shaken from her calm and collected manner for a moment when she noticed the visible reaction he had to that question before she heard him sob as tears began to fall.

“Th-They’re gone,” he replied as he shook his head quickly a few times.

“In a fire,” he choked out between sobs.

Selina’s heart broke at that. He was all alone now in the world, and that was something that she could relate to. Looking at him, she could tell that he hadn’t been alone for more than maybe a few months, so he could still be saved from the dangers that haunted the streets of Gotham.

“Would you like a home… And a new family Tim? You can come with me if you don’t mind sharing,” she informed with an encouraging smile on her face.

Tim stared at her for a moment as if thinking it over. He had just run away from the foster system, and yet here this lady was offering him a new place to call home seemingly without any caveats. Deciding that he could at least give it a shot, he nodded his head a bit before shaking the pouch again without saying a word. Selina laughed softly before gently shaking her head as she slowly approached him before scooping him up in her arms. She also felt a warmth radiate through her body as she began to make her way home with him. It was that same warmth she experienced every time she brought home a stray.

“You hold on to that. We’ll be home soon kitten,” she told him as she climbed up the fire-escape with him before making her way back to her apartment, albeit at a slower pace this time. By the time they got there, Tim had already fallen asleep in Selina’s arms with the pouch clutched tightly against his chest. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight while she carried him into the bathroom to clean him off. As soon as she turned on the water, Tim began to stir before he yawned quietly and gently nuzzled his head under her chin.

“I’ll get you into bed just as soon as we get you cleaned up,” she whispered to him while gently rubbing his back.

“Mkay,” he uttered out tiredly as he helped her undress himself so that she could give him a bath.

Stepping into the warm water was like heaven for the young boy. He couldn’t remember exactly what bathing was like since he started living on the streets, but he was beginning to open up more to Selina and the prospect of a new home. Once that was done and he was dried off, Selina handed him an energy bar which he quickly devoured before carrying him into her bedroom and pulling the sheets back and laying him down. Deciding that she wasn’t going to get anything else down or that she didn’t want to leave her young kitten alone, she peeled off her suit and tossed on some sweats and a tank top before climbing into bed beside Tim and pulling the covers over them. Tim scooted towards her before curling up against her and quickly falling asleep again, and Selina couldn’t help but smile at the realization that she had stumbled into motherhood somehow. She gently kissed his head before turning off the light from the lamp beside her on the nightstand while making a mental note to look into Tim’s biological family sometime tomorrow.

**“Sounds like nice way to end the night,” Gwen offered sincerely.**

**“It was… I owe her a lot,” Tim uttered aloud more so to himself than to Gwen.**

When the morning came, Tim woke with a yawn before sitting up and stretching when he noticed that Selina was already up. The smell of eggs and bacon drew him to the kitchen where she stood in front of the stove preparing breakfast for them both. Tim trudged over to her and gently tugged on her sweatpants to get her attention.

“Need help?” He asked as he looked up at her with a gaze of genuine curiosity.

“Thanks Kitten, but I can handle it,” she assured before turning off the stove, then grabbing two plates and loading them up with food.

“Enjoy,” she said as she carried the plates over to the table before setting them down and helping him into his seat.

He nodded, and began to eat with her. During their meal, she told him of what the news said of his parents’ deaths, but assured him that she would be around forever if he wanted her to be. She also informed him of his inheritance and told him that they would have to get that taken care of soon before it was handed off to whomever. After finishing breakfast, they went to take care of that situation, and while some were happy to see the Drake child survive, Selina could easily tell that some were unhappy knowing that their instant paydays were denied. She did catch something though, or rather someone: Bruce Wayne, who was more than happy that Tim was still alive. It turned out that he could sort of relate to the tragic tale about the loss of one’s parents, and while he did offer to adopt Tim, both Tim and Selina were adamant that he would be better off with her.

**“So you chose to stay with Selina rather boost your wealth and fame with Bruce Wayne?” Gwen asked in slight shock.**

**“It wouldn’t be the same. Besides, I love mom. No one could ever take her place,” he informed with a smile on his face.**

Upon returning to the apartment, Tim surprised Selina by saying he wanted to be cool like the leather pants lady, and after she came down from her laughing fit, she tested Tim out a bit to see what he was made of before finally deciding to take him on as both an apprentice and a full-fledged son. After years of serious physical exercise, martial arts training, gymnast training, and a few other areas of training and discipline, Tim, now age 14, stood beside his mother and began to prowl the nights as a thief/crime-fighter, and thus Stray was born.

**“Interesting story there Timmy. Ever consider making a movie out of it?” Gwen asked with a chuckle.**

**“If I do, you can be the director,” he replied evenly.**

**“Guess that mea- hang on,” she began as she began to type away at her keyboard for a moment.**

**“Looks like we got something,” she informed him after reading over the results.**

**“Tell me where,” he said as he grabbed his cap and his gear before heading out to the balcony.**

**“Looks like a factory down in the industrial district. Tim-” she began before being cut off by him.**

**“Relax Gwen. I promise that if anything big goes down, I’ll call the bats to come deal with it,” he informed with a chuckle before hoping over the railing and taking off towards his destination.**

**Hope that works well, especially since I was writing it at 2 in the morning. XD**

**More stuff goes down next time, some jokes are made, and so is a shocking discovery.**

**Next chapter: Rising Tide.**

**Until next time** **J**


	3. So It Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stray thinks he's going to make a breakthrough on the case. Sadly, he's wrong, but he does have an interesting time still. Read and find out ^_^

Upon landing on the roof of the building next to his penthouse, Tim scanned the surrounding area briefly to make sure that there weren’t any bats circling about. The last thing he needed was Batman knowing about all his dirty secrets. After deciding that the coast was clear, he dropped down into the alley below and made his way into the garage beneath the building while tapping his comm link.

“Is my uh… Ride all set?” He asked as he walked over to where it was supposed to be.

“Should be,” came the quick response from Gwen as she pulled a model and the blueprints of what she dubbed his “Catcycle” on her screen.

Once he spotted it, he took a moment to walk around and inspect it both to be sure it was all there and just to get a full view before he put some scratches on it.

“Looks good, and it’s in black; always chic,” he commented with a smile on his face.

“Yeah well, try not to destroy it on your first night with it,” Gwen told him with a small sigh.

“No promises,” he responded.

They both knew that they were being serious about that. Sure, Tim could easily stay out of harm’s way tonight and easily keep good on Gwen’s suggestion/request, but on the other hand, both knew that Selina’s teachings, coupled with Tim’s natural curiosity and strength of will made it highly unlikely that he would ever avoid such situations unless it was clearly something for the Bat-family to deal with. He did feel a little conflicted though when he heard her sigh over the communication channel.

“Just be careful Tim,” she said.

“And when you’re done with your investigation Mr. Detective, hand everything over to one of the bats and then come over so we can have a movie night and put this behind us.”

“I will Gwen. I promise,” he said as he threw his left leg over the the bike before sitting down on the seat and putting on his helmet before starting up the engine and accelerating out of the garage.

_____________________________________________________________________________

In the warehouse down in the industrial district, everything seemed normal to anyone who just passed by on the outside without taking as much as a glance inside. To any costumed individual who peeked inside just to make sure that nothing was out of the ordinary, they would be greeted by the sight of about a dozen thugs, most of them armed, either walking around as security or helping load crates onto one of three trucks that were parked along the back of the warehouse.

“Alright boys! Mr. Cobblepot wants these crates and their content loaded and delivered to the buyer in about an hour, so no need to rush. Take your time, get things right, and we’ll all be lookin’ at a nice bonus in our next payments,” the thug standing on the ledge outside of the manager’s office said.

“Nice.”

“I can work nicely for that.”

“That’s very generous of him.”

“He can consider it done,” many of the goons commented as they continued to work.

“I know, but Mr. Cobblepot also wants us to keep an eye out for the Bat, his sidekicks, and even…  Catwoman,” he informed while holding back a bit of laughter.

That caught the goons by surprise. Sure, everybody knew that Batman and Catwoman had a thing going on every now and then, and that she was rumored to play both sides, but none of them expected her to be considered a threat to Penguin’s operations.

“The hell? I thought the cat didn’t get involved with operations like this?” One of the goons asked as he shortly stopped working to look up at the one in charge.

“Whatever,” another thug interjected. “How much of a threat could she be?”

“Alone, I dunno, but if she gets hurt, what do you think the bat will do to whoever it was that hurt her?” the goon asked with worry evident in his voice.

At that comment, many of the others who weren’t too concerned about her threat level were beginning to reconsider their arguments on the danger of being thwarted by Catwoman.

“Yeah,” the head goon stated. “Alone, she won’t pose much of a threat, but she’d be stupid to try to take us all on alone, so if she did come here, she won’t be alone. Now quit your gabbin’ and get back to work before some costumed freak really does decide to come snoopin’ around here!” He barked before turning on his heels and walking into the manager’s office to contact his boss.

Without a word, the thugs went back to their original task, while either trying to decide whether their little bonus was worth potentially getting their asses handed to them by the Batman or making obscene sexual jokes about Catwoman. Unbeknownst to them, two costumed figures were watching them from different vantage points outside of the warehouse.

 __________________________________________________________________________________

Since Batman was busy dealing with another one of the Joker’s crazy schemes to turn Gotham into a heaping pile of insanity with Batgirl Nightwing went out to patrol the rest of the city. The small crimes he had stop weren’t really out of the ordinary for Gotham: a few muggings and an attempted rape, and while it was never easy to deal with it mentally and psychologically, the members of the Bat-family did so every night. About twenty-two minutes into his patrol, Nightwing stumbled across the warehouse and took a quick peek inside since he was sure Batman would have if he were here.

“Looks like someone forgot to tell these fools that their services were no longer needed,” he muttered with a light-hearted chuckle before making his way into the warehouse through the back.

At the same time, Stray had made his way to an alley near his desired location and shut off his bike before making his way to the roof of the building.

“Gwen, I’m almost inside,” he informed before making his way onto the rooftop of the warehouse and sneaking in through the ventilation system.

He pulled off the grate covering the vents and climbed in, then slid down before crawling through the vents quietly. After a few moments, he came to a grate covering on his left and decided it would be safer to enter here than through another area. He leaned back a bit and pressed his hands against the sides before pushing against the covering with his boots, and after a few seconds, he managed to force the grate open, but quickly bent down and grabbed it before it could make any noise from impact. After dropping down onto a ledge, he looked down at the scene before him in slight confusion before opening his communication channel with Gwen again.

“Uh Gwen, I thought we were working on a case involving some suspicious looking drugs. Why am I seeing Penguin’s goons?” He asked genuinely confused.

“Because during my analysis, I came across a tid-bit of information that made it seem as though Penguin might have some knowledge about what you obtained earlier,” she informed as she pulled his vitals on her screen via the suit’s monitoring connection.

“Right. And I’m assuming that Copplepot-“

“He’s been away from the Iceberg  Lounge for about a week now according to an informant of Batman’s, so maybe one these losers knows where he is,” she finished while informing him.

He pulled his goggles down over his eyes before he surveyed the room to plan out his tactics when something, or rather someone, caught his eye. With a sigh, he quickly made his way over to the unaware figure before he finally recognized the person as Nightwing.

“Aren’t you out a bit late… And a little ways from home?” He asked with a smirk on his face.

Taken by surprise, Nightwing pulled out an escrima stick and turned quickly to face the source of the voice before a smile took hold of his features.

“You’re actually the last person I expected to see here, and don’t worry about me; I’m a big boy and I can take care of myself. What about you though?” Nightwing asked with a look of curiosity clearly written on his face even though his eyes were covered.

“I’m here to get answers. Try not to ruin that for me,” he told the vigilante crime-fighter before turning his attention back to the thugs working for Cobblepot.

With that, Stray made his first move by pulling a small remote out from one of the pouches on his suit and pressed it causing the lights in the warehouse to go out.

“Who turned out the… Ah hell,” muttered one of the thugs as he pulled his gun off of his back and loaded it with a cartridge before looking around for any sign of trouble.

“You think it’s the Bat? Is he here?” Asked another thug as he readied his weapon as well.

As the other thugs began to panic a bit, the leader in the manager’s office got on the speakers and tried to keep the others relatively calm.

“Alright guys, spread out and search the room. If we ice the Bat or any of his punk sidekicks, I’m sure we’ll be looking at an even nicer cut from the Penguin,” he announced before cutting off the line.

Nightwing chuckled to himself a little before speaking.

“Bet I can take out more than you,” he said as he turned to face his companion before realizing that no one was there.

“I hate when people do that,” he muttered before peering down and spotting Stray as he was choking out one of the thugs with relative ease.

Deciding to go along with the game on his own, Nightwing did a handspring flip down and landed roughly on a thug that was unfortunate enough to be walking underneath him before slipping back into the shadows by hiding behind a few crates near the left side of the warehouse.

“What was that?” Asked a nearby goon as his heart rate began to increase.

“I dunno, b-but ya-you’d better go check,” the one beside him stuttered as he clutched his gun tightly while looking around with wide eyes.

“Screw that. It’s every man for himself,” the other thug replied before resuming his patrol.

Meanwhile, Stray was crouched behind a few crates, and thanks to the features in his goggles, he was waiting for the approaching thug to get close enough. Once the poor fool was within arm’s reach, Stray quickly twisted his body a bit and reached out with his gloved right hand to clamp it around the thugs mouth before bringing his right leg behind the man and curling his arm while crouching down a bit so that the thug couldn’t struggle. Once the man could not move, Stray covered nose to prevent him from drawing in any oxygen and waited a few moments before the guy passed out. Tim dropped him to the floor afterwards without a care when a second goon happened to be making his way over. Knowing he couldn’t slip back into the shadows without his cover being blown, Stray lunged at the man and clamped his hands tightly over the man’s mouth and nose before bringing his knee up roughly into the man’s groin which hastened his descent into unconsciousness.

“Should’ve worn protection,” Stray whispered to the unconscious man with a chuckle before making his way over to a pair of thugs who had their backs turned to him.

Stray grinned mischievously as he snuck up behind the two.

“It’s Nightwing!” He shouted in imitation of one of the fallen thugs’ voices while bringing his hands to the sides of the standing thugs’ heads and slamming them together.

Nightwing’s eyes widened under his domino mask when he heard footsteps rapidly approaching his position. His surprise quickly turned into anger as his hands balled into fists before refocusing on the task at hand. As far as he could tell, he and Catlad had taken down all but four thugs, excluding the one holed up in the manager’s office. He knew that he couldn’t take them all on head first, so he tossed a few smoke pellets out at them and waited for a moment before moving. That’s when Stray saw his opening. As soon as the pellets popped and the smoke started to come out, he kick flipped off the wall and charged at the remaining thugs. The first one was tackled to the floor by Stray who then rolled over and swept another thug off his feet with a leg sweep before slamming his knee down onto the side of the man’s head to knock him out. He then threw a straight punch at the jaw of the man in to his left, and then grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulling him into a headbutt and grabbing his arm to flip him over before he stomped on the man’s arm and broke it. The last two men were standing beside each other with their guns aimed at him, but before they could fire, Nightwing fired two wrist darts from his forearm at their necks and knocked them unconscious before approaching the leather-clad male with a scowl on his face.

“What was that!?” He demanded.

“Twelve angry men?” Stray asked with his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“You were going to use me as bait,” Nightwing said with frustration evident in his voice.

“Hold that thought,” the younger male told him before pressing his lips against Nightwing’s.

“Mm!” Was all Nightwing could utter around the young man’s lips.

Stray held on for a few seconds longer before pushing Nightwing down and tossing a bola around him which tied him up. Making his way towards the manager’s office, he paused seeing that the thug had a gun in his hands before he noticing that there was a floor grate beneath the door. He smirked as he hopped into the floor grates before tossing a few smoke pellets of his own down and into the room. The head thug fired a few shots into the grates before stopping, and that’s when Stray quickly stalked down closer to the man, then leapt out and pushed off the man’s leg to deliver a hard kick to the side of his head which knocked him onto his back.

“One little piggy left all alone,” Stray commented in a harsh voice as he pressed his boot into the side of the man’s face.

“I ain’t tellin’ you jack,” the man uttered out with a strained voice.

“Where’s Cobblepot? Talk, or I’ll crush your larynx and claw out your eyes,” he growled as he unhooked his whip from around his waist before snapping it across the man’s stomach.

The man cried out in pain and took a several breaths to regain his composure.

“I don’t know,” he blurted out.

Stray stared down at him before bringing his other boot over to the man’s left hand and pushing it against the floor and digging the heel into the man’s hand while breaking a few fingers. The man cried out again and started squirming even more in a pointless attempt to get free.

“Honest. He said he was going to a meeting with some new criminal from out of state. Real hush hush ya know? Said that he would come back whenever he was finished there,” the man admitted through sobs.

“Thanks. Now you get to take a nap,” Stray informed before dropping his knee across the man’s temple and knocking him out.

“Gwen, call the GCPD and let them know about Penguin’s men and the weapons they were smuggling out from the old Sionis Steel Mill,” he said after opening his comm. link.

“Will do. Does this mean..?”

“I know that he was ‘off on business,’ but that’s about it,” he replied as he began to retrace his steps through the vent system to get back to the roof.

“It’s about time you got here. I was worried you wouldn’t show up again,” came Nightwing’s voice.

“What, you want another kiss?” Stray asked with a smirk as he folded his arms over his chest while popping a hip.

“No, but I was just thinking that maybe you’d like to join us. Clearly, you have talent, but you just need a push in the right direction to see what you can really offer to Gotham,” he offered with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

“It’ll be a bit more rewarding than being questioned by the police and Gotham’s citizens,” he continued as he stepped towards the leather-clad male with a smile on his face.

“Stop pretending like you care, and stop trying to get me to be something I’m not,” the younger man growled as he turned away from his company a little.

“I do care though, and so does Batman. Come on, I’m sure it’ll be more fun than living with Selina,” he offered jokingly only to receive a hard right across his jaw.

“Don’t you ever talk about her like you know her. She’s twice the human being Batman is, and she’s a much better parent than what you’re used to… Circus boy,” Stray growled with anger before stalking over to the edge of the roof.

Looking back one last time, he snorted before turning and jumping back onto the next roof, then made his way across and down into the alley and hopping onto his bike. He pulled on his helmet and started up the engine before zipping out of the alley and making his way home for the night since he couldn’t do anything further, although he did make a note to go by and visit the Iceberg Lounge from time to time.

Back on the roof of the warehouse, Nightwing was leaning against the ledge as Stray’s words rang through his head. After a moment of silence, he tapped the communicator in his ear and waited for the person on the other end to pick up.

“What is it?” Came the gruff voice of Batman.

“I… I think Catwoman’s son knows who we are,” he told the man after a moment while still staring out into the empty streets of Gotham.

**There we have it folks; another chapter down in the books.**

**Fun stuff. I’ll be editing these later when I get further in the story since I already know how I want it to go for the most part.**

**Hope you enjoy it, and don’t be afraid to offer suggestions or constructive criticism. Those help a lot.**

**Anyway, see you all next time.** **J**


	4. Another Crazy Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After returning to Gwen's place, Tim and Gwen thought his nighttime activities were over, but a shocking news story forces Tim back into the fray for answers. While he can't be sure of what's truly going on, one thing is for certain, the mystery is beginning to look a lot more difficult than the usual Gotham criminal's MO and that isn't good for anyone. So what's next? Does he trust them, or does he continue to work his own angle?

“So you decked him? Just like that?” Gwen asked after nearly choking on a piece of popcorn.

“Something like that. Why?” Tim asked in response, even though he already had an idea of why.

“Because I thought Tim Drake was always calm, cool, collected. I’ve never known him to lash out like that. Must’ve been one hell of a remark,” she mused aloud while indicating with her eyes that she wanted more details.

Tim let out a quiet sigh as he leaned back on the couch as he briefly reminisced about how the night got to this point. After riding the now officially dubbed “Catcycle” to Gwen’s apartment, he made his way in through the balcony which sat over an alley and decided to get comfortable. After divulging the details of the night’s events to her and managing to get through her tirade on why he should let the Bats take over from the present point onward. After what seemed like an eternity, which was honestly only about seven or eight minutes, he managed to distract her by informing her of his farewell with Nightwing, and promised to give her the story after a shower and changing.

‘Probably should have left that topic alone. No way I’m gonna be allowed to sleep tonight until I go through all the details,’ he mused to himself as he moved into the bedroom and began stripping himself bare in preparation for his shower.

“Need anything?” He asked after stepping out of the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist.

“No. Just be quick though so I can get the details, and no, there’s no dodging this Tim, now get,” she told him with a smirk as she gently pushed him towards the bathroom.

With an exasperated sigh, Tim resigned himself to his fate as he stalked towards the bathroom to take his much-desired shower. Due to the nature of his nocturnal activities, Tim had developed a thing for hot and cold showers. He stood under the cascading water on a hot temperature setting to massage his body and the aches, and would then turn the water to a colder setting in order to keep himself from dozing off. Once he was done, he stepped out and dried off with a sigh of content before grabbing his casual nightwear and slipping into them quickly.

“Thanks for letting me keep some of my things here,” he called out as he stepped out of the bathroom and made his way back into the living room.

“What’re friends for? Now about this goodbye you had with Nightwing,” she began as she opened up her microwave before placing a bag of popcorn in.

“Tim?” She called out before gently pinching his nose shut for a moment after noticing that he had dozed off.

“Hm? Sorry,” he muttered as he lazily swatted her hand away.

“Right. So…

_“Stop pretending like you care, and stop trying to get me to be something I’m not,” the younger man growled as he turned away from his company a little._

_“I do care though, and so does Batman. Come on, I’m sure it’ll be more fun than living with Selina,” he offered jokingly only to receive a hard right across his jaw._

_“Don’t you ever talk about her like you know her. She’s twice the human being Batman is, and she’s a much better parent than what you’re used to… Circus boy,” Stray growled with anger before stalking over to the edge of the roof…_

“And from there, I made my way here and thus, the present time has been reconnected aloud to the past,” he informed with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

Gwen took a moment to recount the story to herself while also taking into account the solemn look on Tim’s face. He and Selina had said themselves on a number of occasions: they were a family, and they always looked out for each other. Gwen never understood the need to reiterate that fact until Tim had informed Selina and herself of Nightwing’s departure because of an apparent frustration with Batman, and if she was being honest, Gwen could totally see that, especially when another Robin came up, only to be killed by the Joker. Selina had thrown a fit and made Tim swear to stay home for about a month after that according to the young man himself, although looking at him now and having seen him in action, Gwen was starting to feel like Tim was right to be confident in his ability to handle himself, even when he wasn’t even old enough to drive.

“Right, well, back to the matter at hand. I still think you should hand this case over to Bats Tim. This dealing with unknowns and well-known crime bosses is right up their alley,” she informed him after holding the bag of popcorn out to him again.

“I want to Gwen. I really do, but I can’t just ignore the fact that one of Gotham’s most notorious crime bosses is “out to lunch” with another criminal from out of town. It seems too… Surreal. Gotham’s mobs have always wanted control of Gotham, but they’ve barely, if ever, shown a willingness to work with others, much less outside forces. It seems-,”

“Dangerous?” She asked with an expression caught between concern and frustration.

“It’s always dangerous Gwen, but that isn’t the case this time. It seems… Like it’s foreshadowing something bigger,” he admitted before taking a handful of popcorn and eating it while glancing at the news on the television.

There was nothing major on the news, at least in terms of what they didn’t already know about, until Vicki Vale stepped onto the camera and delivered news that several associates of Roman Sionis and Oswald Cobblepot, also known respectively as the Black Mask and Penguin, had been killed with nothing left to identify any potential killer(s). This caused Gwen and Tim to share a look before Gwen instinctively reached out and put a hand on Tim’s nearby arm.

“Tomorrow,” she told him with a hint of finality.

“Look into it tomorrow,” she advised.

He looked at her for a moment before looking back at the screen as he realized something peculiar: the men who were dead, at least those who were reported to be associates of Penguin’s, they were the same men that he and Nightwing took down earlier tonight. Out of curiosity, he turned his head towards the window to view out into the city to look for “The Signal,” and sure enough, police Commissioner James Gordon had indeed summoned the Bat for a meeting, and Tim had to wonder if Batman was made aware of the connection by Nightwing regarding some of the deceased. His curiosity was getting the better of him, and looking over at Gwen, he could already see the look on her face which clearly screamed “No.” As if that wasn’t enough, Gwen also made an effort to point out that the new Robin would probably be there with Batman, and given how Tim’s last interaction with the kid went, it was probably a good idea to just stay home.

“What if I just go scope out the Iceberg Lounge? Given how Sionis tried to kill the mayor last week, I’m sure Batman and crew will be following his trail more closely than they will Cobblepot’s. All I’ll need is about ten minutes to see if Penguin has anything useful in his office that can tell us about what his men were moving weapons for and/or where he went off to,” he mused aloud with a growing smile.

Letting out a sigh, Gwen could only nod her head because she knew when she had been beaten. Something about a cat’s curiosity made it impossible to sway Tim and Selina from an objective once they set their minds to it. She got up and walked into her “work room” as Tim went to her bedroom to once again don his catsuit. Once he was changed, he entered the server room and gave Gwen a kiss on the cheek before making his way into the private garage and hopping onto his Catcycle before donning his helmet and speeding off towards Penguin’s main base of operations.

‘Something doesn’t add up,’ he began as he raced through the streets on his motorcycle towards his destination.

‘If Penguin and Sionis had their operations targeted, how the hell were those men from the warehouse killed without anyone seeing something? Surely Nightwing would have…

“Shit,” he muttered to himself before taking a sharp turn off the main road and down an alley way as he sped towards the warehouse again.

“Gwen, if you can hear me, I need names of anyone and everyone who has had contact with Black Mask and Penguin dealing with shipments off the record,” he informed over the comm link as he continued on his motorcycle.

“Okay, but can I ask what good that’ll do?” She asked as she began trying to hack into the databases of the respective crime boss.

“It’ll give us a place to start our investigation. Some of those men who worked for Penguin, they were at the warehouse where I ran into Nightwing, but they weren’t killed at the warehouse. Whoever their killer or killers was/were, they carried them away from the warehouse and into a more visible location before their grim execution. They’re supposed to be scarecrows. Warnings,” he informed as he came to a stop at the base of the warehouse.

He hadn’t heard anything from Gwen, which meant that she was both A) still working on getting him that information, and B) shocked at the revelation she had just heard. Pulling out his grapnel gun, he aimed up at the roof and fired it before letting the line pull him up quickly. Once he was up there, he looked around for a moment before walking over to an object and bending down to pick it up and examine it.

“Dammit,” he muttered to himself without realizing he left the link open.

“Tim?” Came Gwen’s voice immediately afterwards.

“You were right,” he muttered as he firmly gripped the weapon in his hands before examining a small splotch of blood nearby.

“I was… Jesus. Tim, should you really-,” she began only to be cut off by a quick shout from Tim which actually startled her.

“I know how you feel Gwen. I really do, but you need to open up that backdoor we installed into Batman’s comms,” he told her in a tone that informed her that there was no room for discussion.

Tim reached into a pouch on his suit and pulled out a small vial before crouching down and collecting a small sample of blood as he waited for the notice from Gwen that he had access to Batman’s communication. After that, he began to look around the rooftop for any other clues that could inform him of what happened after he left Nightwing alone. It wasn’t his fault. He knew that. He didn’t open Nightwing up to an attack just because of the punch he threw, but he couldn’t shake the feeling. It really wasn’t fair in Gotham sometimes.

“Uh, Tim,” Gwen began after her screen picked up some odd anomalies.

“No need. I’ll call you back when I’m finished,” he replied before turning around to come face-to-face with Robin, Batgirl, and Batman, whom was glaring ever so menacingly at him behind the lenses on his cowl.

“Where is he?” Batman asked, his voice gruff and commanding.

“No idea. I thought he might have gone home after this, but obviously, that’s not the case is it?” Stray answered before tossing the escrima stick at him.

“He’s lying,” came Robin’s quick accusation which merely caused the young leather clad male to roll his eyes.

“Nice to see you too kid. Seriously, shouldn’t the kid be in bed?” He asked aloud to no one in particular.

“We need to focus on finding Nightwing,” Batman stated as he gave Robin a hand signal to keep him from flying off the metaphorical leash.

“Agreed,” came Batgirl’s quick response as she studied Stray.

“Tt,” came Robin’s huffed response as he briefly scanned the rooftop.

“What happened here?” Batman asked as he kept his eyes locked on Stray while fumbling absentmindedly with the weapon in his hands.

“Nightwing and I arrived separately, but took out Penguin’s men together before I questioned the head punk in charge about Cobblepot’s whereabouts. He said that Cobblepot has been gone for a few days discussing business with a criminal from out of state,” he informed before holding up the small vial of blood for Batman to see.

“And that’s all you were here for before returning?” He asked as he nodded his head ever so slightly.

“Yeah,” he acknowledged before tossing it at him and stepping aside as Robin walked over to officially start their investigation.

Batman merely grunted before scanning the blood in the vial and having it uploaded to the Batcomputer before resting it inside a pouch on his utility belt.

“Batgirl, I need you and Stray to go to the Iceberg Lounge and see if you can find any information on Penguin’s recent transactions,” he ordered before the sound of a snicker brought everyone’s attention back to Stray.

“I’m sorry, but… No. In case you forgot, I don’t work for you,” he stated with finality as he pointed a stern finger at Batman.

“Then why were you here?” Batgirl asked as she quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Curiosity. I’m sure you all found it odd how Sionis tried to have the mayor killed publicly last week despite knowing that it would get him locked up, in spite of the influence he can still wield? Now you’ve got Penguin sending his men into an arms transaction even after one of his competitors just took himself momentarily out of the game. Too funny to be a coincidence,” he listed off as he stared at each of them for a moment.

“Exactly why I need you to put aside feelings of difference here. Robin and I will look into Nightwing’s disappearance while you and Batgirl look into Cobblepot’s records,” he stated before turning to examine the scene with Robin.

Looking over at Batgirl, she offered him a kind smile and Stray could only frown a bit before shrugging a bit and motioning for her to lead the way. They dropped down onto the street level before Batgirl got onto her bike and waited for Stray to do the same. Once they were both ready, they took off in slightly awkward silence before Batgirl broke that silence.

“I believe you, and I know he seems… Difficult, but he means well,” she told him over the link as they raced towards the Iceberg Lounge.

“Thanks, but, there’s something missing here. If Nightwing was captured, why was there an escrima stick left behind? The holsters are magnetized right, so it’s not like one would have fallen out just because he was upside down for a moment, and he would have used both to defend himself, right?” He asked as they sped down the road.

Batgirl thought about it for a moment and realized that it did make sense in terms of not making sense. She knew Dick could handle himself, but apparently, he was either outnumbered and/or outgunned, yet there was evidence that he was still alive, and Batman had it now.

“So you think he left that there as a sign to say he’s still alive huh? Makes sense,” she muttered to herself as they pulled up to the back entrance/exit of the Iceberg Lounge a moment later.

Once they parked their bikes and secured them and their helmets in a secluded and well-hidden spot, they picked the lock on the door before sneaking in quietly. There weren’t any guards around, and Tim figured it had to do with the fact that Cobblepot wasn’t in town at the moment. The trip down the corridor was brief, and upon entering Penguin’s office, they both made a move for his computer before Tim took a small bow and offered her the first crack.

“Such a gentleman,” came Batgirl’s response to the gesture with a smirk.

“You know it,” he retorted as he began rummaging through the cabinets and shelves on the desk.

Batgirl quickly booted up the computer before pulling out a hacking device and breaking through the various firewalls Penguin had in place before she began searching through his records. While she was busy with that, Stray pulled out a few files and looked over them with intrigue. Some manifests for more incoming ill-gotten goods to keep and/or distribute, an itinerary for a flight to and from South America, and plans detailing a meeting a few days from now here at the Lounge. Tim pocketed that little bit of information to himself before looking over at the screen to see how Batgirl’s searching was going. She looked up at him with a smirk, showing that she found the same bit of information that he did, just altered slightly.

“Find anything interesting?” She asked as she had all the files transferred to the Batcomputer before shutting the computer down.

“Nothing you don’t already have,” he lied casually as he folded up the documents before slipping them into one of his suit’s many pouches.

“We should get going now though. No need to stay where we’re not totally wanted,” he mused aloud as they returned the office to its previous state before leaving and walking towards the exit.

As Stray reached for the handle on the door, gunshots rang out from within the main room drawing the attention of both costumed individuals. He knew this scenario wouldn’t end quietly, but to avoid the old cliché, he kept his mouth shut, but he knew that with those shots ringing out… Yep, Batgirl was already racing towards the location while calling for him to follow her. It should have been easy right? They slip in, grab some info, then slip out. No alarms tripped, no security alerted to their presence, and no throwing themselves into situations that were unplanned. Okay, so maybe in a perfect world where he came here alone, but he wasn’t one of them. Sure, he dreamed about fighting crime with Batman occasionally when he was a kid, but that was just… Naïve thinking on his part at such a young age. He turned to look again just as Batgirl rounded a corner that lead to the public area. It wasn’t his fight. Sure, he was smart and had plenty of training from plenty of masters over the years, but his collection of toys didn’t add up to the number that the Bats had. Why should he risk his life? He was a thief. Not a vigilante, and certainly not a killer like whoever it was that fired those shots probably was. Just a thief in leather who knew when he overstayed his welcome. He heard a few more shots fire off and figured Batgirl had made her presence known. She could handle it right? Totally, but what if…? And that’s when he remembered Nightwing. Gone without a trace because Stray left him there. It wasn’t his fault. He knew that, but dammit, if anything happened to Batgirl, that would be two in one night, and he would never be able to let that go or live that down. With a frustrated growl, he pulled his hand back and made a beeline for the restaurant portion while hoping that Batgirl was still in good shape. Upon making it to the scene, he saw two thugs unconscious and three more moving around as people were hiding or trying to make a clean escape. He noticed Batgirl, and she in turn noticed him and smiled at him, since she assumed he was long gone. He pulled out a throwing star and launched it at the goon closest to him before charging at him with a hand on the handle of his whip. Leaping off of a table, Stray snapped the arm out which caused the whip to come down painfully over the man’s visible arm; from there, he hit the ground about an inch or two from the man and came up while delivering a vicious sidekick to the man’s ribcage which sent him crashing into a nearby table. Turning quickly, he snapped the whip out and easily disarmed another thug before Batgirl came down on the man with a powerful knee to his head. She delivered a sweeping kick to the man’s jaw to put him into an unconscious state before tossing a batarang at the last criminal to disarm him. Stray then pulled the last man’s legs out from under him with his whip and Batgirl leapt over his shoulders to deliver a knee to his gut which knocked the air out of him.

“Nice work,” she commented after standing up while watching him wrap the whip back up before securing it on its holster.

“Right back at you,” he told her as he briefly examined the scene before them.

“Any lead on to what this was?” He asked a moment later as he returned his attention to her as she began to zip tie the unconscious men.

“No, but I’m sure we’ll know soon enough. By the way, all things considered, you really did do well back there. You should consider working with us more… Often,” she began before turning around only to find him gone.

“That would be annoying,” she muttered as she finished tying up the rest of the men just as the police arrived.

Once the information about the attack was passed along, she made her way out the same way she entered only to find Stray leaning against her bike. She walked over to him silently as she was expecting him to say something.

“Didn’t want to be seen by the police, and I also didn’t want to take the chance that you wouldn’t come out,” he told her with a voice that was not at all the same he had a few moments ago.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she told him in an attempt to cheer him up.

“I keep telling myself that too. Maybe when this mystery is solved, I’ll start to believe it,” he responded with a shrug before noticing her studious gaze.

“What?” He asked a bit more defensively than he would have liked.

“It’s just… For someone who works as a thief, you kind of put more responsibility on your shoulders… Almost like “He” does,” she commented with a raised eyebrow.

Tim looked away for a moment. Sure, Selina had occasionally made the comment about how his intelligence and keen eye for detail would probably put Batman to shame, but the comparison, even as small as this… It was a new one for Tim. He didn’t hate it, or even her for saying it, but… He still didn’t want to hear it.

“He” and I… We’re not alike you know. Although I’m sure you’re a better judge of character than he is aren’t you… Miss Gordon?” He asked with a smirk as he saw her eyes widen in surprise for a moment.

“No, I won’t tell anyone outside of your little family, because who would really believe that a guy who has the money and resources to be Batman would actually be Batman,” he informed with a wink.

“Good... I’d hate to have to ruin that suit of yours,” she shot back with a stern gaze.

Stray merely held up his hands in a defensive manner before bowing his head as he stood off her bike.

“Like I said earlier, we’ll find Nightwing,” he told her, changing the subject just to be that guy.

Batgirl looked at him with a slightly puzzled expression before shaking her head a bit and resting a hand on his shoulder. He was clearly determined to help figure this out, and that alone probably made him more than trustworthy. A smile crossed her lips before she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, giggling a little as she noticed the pink tint on his cheeks, before they both got onto their respective motorcycles and sped off in different directions. Tim blamed his blush on Selina and Gwen as he rode home. Batgirl on the other hand, she was both pleased to his response, but also curious as to how he knew their identities when they didn’t know his. As she thought about it, she began mapping out a few of the locations he frequented in her head as she decided to follow up on that case while working on the larger one. Regardless of whether Bruce knew or not, she was going to keep that tidbit of information to herself, and as she came to a halt in the Batcave, she got off her bike and walked over to Bruce at the computer before handing him the drive with the information on it.

“This is what we found,” she told him as she pulled a seat close by and sat down.

“We?” He asked for clarification.

“Yeah. Stray and I. He even helped take out the gunmen who showed up,” she informed with a smile.

Bruce wasn’t sure. Obviously, Selina had helped him before on a few occasions, but her son… He seemed more… Involved. Almost like he was meant for this line of work. Barbara seemed to trust him, and Bruce had his suspicions that the young man had done more in recent weeks to the city’s benefit than he let on about, so he was content to keep out of Stray’s way… For now.

On said young man’s end, after parking his bike and making his way back into Gwen’s apartment, before he could even remove his clothing and shower… Again… He was met by both Gwen and Selina who immediately pulled him into a group hug.

“We heard about what was on the news and-,” Gwen began only to be cut off by her friend.

“You don’t have to put yourself in those kinds of situations you know,” Selina told him while gently combing her fingers through his hair.

“Actually, I kinda have to… At least for the moment,” he muttered tiredly before kindly excusing himself so he could go clean up again.

Before either of them could ask him to elaborate further, he informed them that they could talk about it tomorrow morning, but that his plans for the rest of the night were to shower before going to bed. As he stalked into the bathroom and began stripping for his second shower, his mind wandered to the itinerary in one of his pouch pockets as he stepped in and turned the water on.

‘What the hell would Cobblepot be doing in South America, how do the other mob bosses tie into it, and what the hell happened to Nightwing?’ He mused as he stared at his faint reflection in the shower’s glass door.


End file.
